Scientific Name
Pygocentrus nattereri. Click here for more information about the scientific names for many Piranha species.

Comments
Piranha Fish are illegal to import, to sell, or to own in the state of California, where our facility is located in San Diego. So we don't have any Piranha Fish in facilities. They are also illegal in some other states in the United States.

There are many species of fish in the subfamily Serrasalminae that are all called Piranhas. Pygocentrus nattereri, the Red Belly Piranha, is the most popular Piranha fish.

Reports of Piranhas biting people in their native habitats are rare, so the danger of Piranhas is exaggerated. But Piranhas have bitten people who put their hands in an aquarium full of Piranhas. Maybe those Piranhas had been under-fed.
 
Click here for more information about the special water, special fish, and special decorations in Amazon River Aquariums.

Appropriate Home
An aquarium with at least 50 gallons of water and eventually much bigger aquarium with an exterior power filter with a bio-wheel, and a maximum of 1/4 inch of gravel. The water temperature should be between 75 and 80 degrees F. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.
 
Wild Piranhas and young Piranhas do better in water with lower minerals and lower pH. The recommended water is a mixture of mostly Reverse Osmosis (R/O) Water and some aged tap water. Some Piranhas can acclimate to more normal aged tap water.

Recommended Diet
Piranhas will eat flake food and freeze dried blood worms when small. As they grow bigger they prefer to eat chunks of fish or beef and feeder fish such as feeder comets. Click here for more general information about feeding fish.

Compatibility
Piranha Fish have always been illegal in the state of California, where we have always lived, so we don't have any first hand experience with Piranhas. But I have seen Piranhas in the same aquarium with various types of Plecostomus Catfish. Click here for more information about Plecostomus.

A long time ago there was an interesting fish store, named AAA Aquarium, in San Diego. We used to visit this store at least once a month and sell the owner, Mrs. Hansen, a few fish that we'd raised. She often had Piranhas and told us that they came into her store as stowaways in bags of fish containing Silver Dollars or Pacus, which are fish that are closely related to Piranha and look similar.

In one aquarium at AAA Aquarium there was one Piranha Fish about 5" long and a pair of Convict Cichlids that were 1.5" to 2" long. The pair of Convicts kept the Piranha way up in one corner of the aquarium. If the Piranha moved down even a couple of inches, the Convicts would immediately swim up and nip the Piranha, until it returned to the corner. The small Convict Cichlids had trained the Piranha to say in the corner.

Every time I was in the store, I would stand and watch this aquarium for 10 or 15 minutes and thought it was great fun to watch the small Cichlids discipline the much bigger Piranha.

Click here to read more general information about several other groups of compatible fish.

Size and Life Span
This species of Piranha can grow to be 18". Their life span is unknown to us, but they probably live for at least several years.